can i install opensuse without formatting the "/" partition

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

hi!

i have a laptop in which i dont have a separate /home dir, now i dont have a place to backup my /home data at the moment and i want to try opensuse 11 when it is released.

so i hope that i can install opensuse from the live cd, by:

  • first mounting my “/” partition when running the live cd
  • then removing everything except my /home dir
  • rename my home dir so it is not in the way during the install process
  • installing opensuse 11 without formatting the “/” partition

is that possible?
thanks!
_c.

#2

It is, in the partitioner you can choose not to format / - you just have to choose custom partitioning during the installation.

#3

be careful, i have a lot of problems with “don’t format root”
and u have to have some /home partition during installation, or u gonna have again /home on root - backup is important doing partition experiment

#4

You could also do first and second steps and then resize the partition. Afterwards install 11 and mount (not format) /home in that resized partition.
You’d end up having two different partitions for / and /home.
Keep in mind resizing/moving partitions always implies a risk, even if small.

#5

You can install one version over another without formatting, but you should expect seemingly random and unexpected behaviour from file remnamts. It’s best to backup important files and make a clean install.

However, with regard to /home, since it’s in a seperate partition, during installation you may select it as the location for /home (do not format) and use the same user name. Nothing will change in that partition. Only reformat the / (root partition).

Or, during installation, don’t even select the /home partition for any use; pretend it isn’t there. Install the systen in / (root partition). Create your user (use the same user name as in your current /home).

After installation, and before re-boot, edit /etc/fstab to add your /home partition to fstab then mount it. Reboot and all of your files should still be there.

You will have the new /home/<username> folder in /home (hidden under your mounted /home partition) which will hurt nothing. If it bothers you that it’s there, then boot a liveCD and mount the root partition. Delete that unwanted /home/<username> folder (leave /home empty - but leave /home in place. It’s the mount point for your home partition).

#6

thanks for all the quick replies…

first: if i had a backup location, i’dn’t have started this thread (i have a backup, obviously, just not with me – i’m traveling)
second: my “/home” lives on partition mounted as “/” – this because i want to use all the limited space on my laptop.

then to bigrigdriver: you seem to answer my question by saying; yes it is possible but you should “expect seemingly random and unexpected behaviour from file remnamts”
– hmmm… im interested in what you call file ‘remnamts’, i dont really get it, yet i have decided not to reinstall until i find some backup space.

thanks!

#7

Good decision right now. Btw you didn’t bring a phone or a
camera on your journey? They mostly work excellent as usb-
memories, all you’ll need will be an empty memory card.

#8

yeah i bring some, but i also bring 40gb of data (mainly music)… no other memory that size on me :wink:

#9

Try opening the suse partitioner, then shrink /, and make another, mount it to is (eg) /futurehome

After a reboot, simply run

su
rsync -vua /home /futurehome

and everything should be backed up with proper permissions and symlinks still working